The Supreme Court dismissed on Wednesday the appeal of three convicted terrorists against their jail sentences.
Three terrorists hailing from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan had been sentenced to 14 years each in jail after they were found in possession of explosives during a police operation in Peshawar.
Their appeals against the convictions were set aside by the high court after which they had moved the apex court.
Hearing their appeals, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa remarked that the convicts’ links with the terrorist outfit were proven, adding that he did not see technical faults in the case.
The court observed that they were caught red-handed with 840kg of explosive material and also opened firing on police during the raid.
The counsel for the convicts informed the bench that one convict, Haji Habib, died in jail while the other is a minor and thus should be shown leniency.
Justice Khosa said that in the rest of the world the first mistake is termed the ‘last mistake’ but in Pakistan it is said that first-timers should be let go. He explained that this culture was a licence for committing a second mistake.
When the counsel said that gunpowder and not explosives were recovered from his clients, Justice Khosa wondered if the counsel wanted that talcum powder should have been recovered from them.
The other two convicts were identified as Asif Sheeraz and Niaz.
Published in Daily Times, April 19th 2018.
